A critical contract battle between Monroe County and the Rochester area's largest unions is going into a new phase. Time Warner Cable News reporter Jordan Mazza shares why they hope to accomplish through mediation.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Monroe County’s largest and most diverse public service union is in a contract deadlock with the county.
“We have an administration who has really just shut us off," said Flo Tripi, CSEA Western New York president. "They don’t want to meet with us. When they do meet with us, they won’t listen. We can’t negotiate with them because everything they say is no.”
The Civil Service Employees Association says it is now forced to declare an impasse and bring in a mediator.
“The county respects the collective bargaining process, and negotiations conducted should be at the table," Monroe County spokesperson Bill Napier said in a statement. "The county welcomes the appointment of a mediator to assist CSEA in reaching an agreement that recognizes the strong fiscal pressures facing our taxpayers.”
CSEA’s collective bargaining agreement with Monroe County expired in 2013.
The CSEA western region includes Buffalo and Rochester 46,000 members altogether. It includes public employee union, state, county, town, cities, villages, school districts, private sector areas, transportation, health and parks.
In the last eight years, county workers have had a two percent cost of living adjustment, while salaries for some county managers have risen as much more than 20 percent.
“I think it just degrades them completely," Tripi said. "How would that make you feel? There’s no reward here for what they do.”
Tripi said it could take months for negotiations to finish.
"This impasse will at least bring us to the table and get us to the point where we can talk," she said.